Christina Ricci Says Her Husband Chose Their Newborn Daughter’s Name While She Was Recovering From Childbirth

Before welcoming their newborn daughter last month, Christina Ricci thought that she and husband Mark Hampton had settled on her name: Cleo. But miscommunication resulted in Hampton selecting a name that surprised Ricci, who was recovering from childbirth when he shared it on social media.

“I had a baby less than a month ago,” the actress, who is also mom to Freddie, 7, with ex James Heerdegen, said during a Thursday appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. “And this is my first time out of the house,” she joked.

According to Ricci, as she was preparing to deliver via C-section, she was talking to her husband about filling out the paperwork for their daughter’s birth certificate. “’My husband was like, ‘Well, we’re going to give her a full name, right? And then the nickname’s Cleo,’” Ricci recalled. “And I was like, ‘Cleopatra?’ And he was like, ‘Yeah, the full name’s Cleopatra.’ And I was sort of like, ‘OK, fine. Whatever, we’ll talk about this later.’”

Ricci wasn’t ready to commit to her baby’s name just yet, but it seems as though Hampton was too eager to wait for further discussion. “But then he got so excited that he put it on Instagram and then media outlets picked up that her name was Cleopatra Ricci Hampton and so I was like, ‘Oh, I guess her name’s Cleopatra,'” Ricci laughed.

Ricci is referring to a Dec. 8 Instagram post by Hampton, in which he shared a picture of the newborn with the caption: “My heart has exploded. @riccigrams and baby Cleo are doing fantastic, we’re all resting after such an eventful morning.. welcome to the world baby Cleopatra Ricci Hampton.”

 

Ricci adds she just thought her daughter’s name would be Cleo. “…I was like, ‘Well, we’ll figure this out later.’ But he figured it out while I was in recovery.”

“Cleo, that’s a cute name though,” DeGeneres said.

“It’s a queen’s name!” added Ricci.

We’re so glad it all worked out in the end, but partners take note — moms aren’t ready to make serious life decisions (like our baby’s name!) while we’re in labor.

Check out these unique celebrity baby names.